Pure titanium cookware is used as the ultimate camping cookware in weight-critical situations. You can also purchase pure titanium cookware in individual items such as woks. Titanium cookware is less successful for most other cooking applications because of its poor heat conductance.

Much of what is labeled titanium cookware is actually aluminum cookware that used titanium in the hard-anodizing process or in a ceramic-titanium plasma that is fused to the surface to form an abrasion-resistant matrix for a nonstick coating.

Pros and Cons of Pure Titanium Cookware

Titanium is strong, hard, and lightweight. This means titanium pots and pans can be constructed of thin sheet metal. The downside is that this thinness, combined with the poor heat conductivity, means that the t itanium cookware can warp and dent. The poor conductivity in titanium pots and pans also means you can scorch foods, resulting in hard-to-remove char (manufacturers advise boiling water in the pan and scouring with a nylon scrubber).

Titanium cookware (actually, the titanium dioxide surface layer) offers a non-reactive exterior surface with food, therefore is a good choice for people who are sensitive to the nickel found in stainless steel cookware. The bare metal, titanium, is highly reactive itself and forms its protective gold-colored titanium dioxide layer on exposure to air or water, which means it regenerates itself if you do abrade it off. This layer is also self-sanitizing when your titanium cookware is exposed to sunlight.

Titanium works as a material for a wok for the same reason that carbon steel does. Once it is heated, it tends to hold heat well; and the constant, vigorous stirring or tossing used in stir-frying mitigates any problematic hot spots.